ReadyBoost - Setup and Use

How to Setup and Use ReadyBoost in Windows 7​

   Information

Windows 7 supports Windows ReadyBoost. This feature uses external USB flash drives as a hard disk cache to improve disk read performance. Supported external storage types include USB thumb drives, SD cards, and CF cards. Since ReadyBoost will not provide a perfor¬mance gain when the primary disk is an SSD, Windows 7 disables ReadyBoost when reading from an SSD drive.

This will show you how to setup and use ReadyBoost in Windows 7 with USB flash drives and flash memory cards to help speed up your computer.

However, you most likely will not notice any increase in performance if your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements of 1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended) for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM (8 GB recommended) for 64-bit Windows 7 installed.

   Note

External storage must meet the following requirements:

• Capacity of at least 256 MB, with at least 64 kilobytes (KB) of free space.The 4-GB limit of Windows Vista has been removed. For ReadyBoost to effectively speed up your computer, the flash drive or memory card should have at least 1 GB of free available space.
• At least a 2.5 MB/sec throughput for 4-KB random reads
• At least a 1.75 MB/sec throughput for 1-MB random writes
• You can enable or disable ReadyBoost for a specific flash drive or other removable storage device (ex: memory card).
• Windows 7 shows you how much space it recommends that you allow it to reserve and use on the flash drive or memory card for optimal performance at the bottom of the properties window. (See screenshot below step 4B below)
• If your flash drive or card doesn't have enough available space for ReadyBoost, you'll see a message telling you to free some space on it.
• For best results, use a flash drive or flash memory card with at least double the amount of available space as the amount of memory (RAM) in your computer.
• There's a limit of 8 flash devices (EX: USB flash drive or memory card) that could be used at once for ReadyBoost with a max of 32GB of ReadyBoost space per device for a max total of 256GB per machine.
• Should you have the USB flash drive formarted as FAT32 or NTFS:
  • The FAT32 file system has size limitations. While you cannot have a FAT32 partition greater than 32 GB (32728 MB), you also cannot save/store a file larger than 4 GB on a FAT32 partition. This limits you to only being able to use up to 4 GB for ReadyBoost on a USB flash drive formatted with FAT32.
  • To be able to use more than 4 GB for ReadyBoost on the USB flash drive, you would need to have the USB flash drive formated with NTFS instead.

For more information about ReadyBoost in Windows 7, see:

• USB and SD storage media – ReadyBoost with a SD card or a flash drive | Microsoft Support
• Understand ReadyBoost and whether it will Speed Up your System

   Warning

• If your Windows 7 is installed on a solid-state drive (SSD), you may not see an option to speed up your computer with ReadyBoost when you plug in a USB flash drive or flash memory card. This is because SSD drives are faster and they're very unlikely to benefit from using ReadyBoost.
• In some situations, you might not be able to use all of the memory on your device to speed up your computer. For example, some flash memory devices contain both slow and fast flash memory, but ReadyBoost can only use fast flash memory to speed up your computer.
• ReadyBoost cannot beat the performance gain by just adding more RAM in your computer instead.
• ReadyBoost uses the Superfetch service that needs to be enabled and set to be "Started" and "Automatic".

Here's How:
1. Plug a USB flash drive or flash memory card that you want to use ReadyBoost with into your computer.

2. If AutoPlay pops-up, click on Speed up my system. (See screenshot below)

A) Go to step 4.
OR

3. If AutoPlay does not pop-up, then open the Start Menu and click on Computer. In Computer, right click on the USB flash drive or flash memory card, and click on Properties. (See screenshot below)

4. To Turn On ReadyBoost

A) To use all of the flash drive or memory card free space for ReadyBoost

• Select (dot) Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost. (See screenshot below)

B) To specify how much free space on the flash drive or memory to use for ReadyBoost

• Select (dot) Use this device. (See screenshot below)
• Either slide the slider or enter the amount of free space you want to reserve to ReadyBoost.
  NOTE: See the note box at the top of the tutorial for details about how much free space to use.

5. To Turn Off ReadyBoost

• Select (dot) Do not use this device. (See screenshots above)

6. Click on OK.

7. You will see this for a brief moment while Windows 7 configures the ReadyBoost cache on your flash drive or memory card. (See screenshot below)

   Tip

To Temporarily Remove the ReadyBoost Device
NOTE: If you wanted to temporarily remove the USB flash drive or memory card that ReadyBoost is currently using, then this will show you how to safely remove it.
1. Open the Start Menu and click on Computer, then right click on the USB flash drive or flash memory card being used by ReadyBoost, and click on Eject. (See screenshots below)

A) Click on Continue. (See screenshot below)

B) Go to step 3.
OR

2. Click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area on the right side of the taskbar, then click on the USB flash drive or flash memory card being used by ReadyBoost to eject it. (See screenshot below)

3. When you see this, it is now safe to remove the USB flash drive or flash memory card. (See screenshot below)

4. When ready, you can just plug the USB flash drive or flash memory card back in to have ReadyBoost automatically start using it again.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Speed Up the Performance of Windows 7

 

[esteban]

Thanks for the tutorial.

How can I see by how much my memory is boosted? The LED on my flash drive is blinking, so I figure ReadBoost is properly enabled, but in Control Panel->System, I see only my laptop's internal memory.

 

[CR4CK3RW0LF]

Not sure if this is where i should post...

Hi, im new here at win7forums, i am currently using readyboost on 2 1GB flash drives plugged into the front of my pc. however whenever i start my computer, i cant get past POST while there plugged in. i belive this is a BIOS issue, most likely my board is trying to boot from the drives... i dont have the model for my board so i cant update my bios... is this the issue? is there some way to disable them till i log on?

 

[Brink]

Hello CR4CK2RWOLF, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might boot into you BIOS (should see what key to press to enter BIOS at boot briefly) and double check the setting to make sure that you do not have a "USB device" option listed in the boot order.

Does this happen if you only have one of them connected?

 

[CR4CK3RW0LF]

Hello CR4CK2RWOLF, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might boot into you BIOS (should see what key to press to enter BIOS at boot briefly) and double check the setting to make sure that you do not have a "USB device" option listed in the boot order.

Does this happen if you only have one of them connected?

Last time i checked.. i had the boot order set to HDD.. you could be right though. i tried to get my 4GB to boot DSL (D*mn small linux), i might have left the boot order that way, ill give it a try. Thanks for the relpy!

 

[24x24]

Is there a way on 7 to make the readyboost your primary (possibly only) cache?

 

[esteban]

Is there a way on 7 to make the readyboost your primary (possibly only) cache?

You could have like, 256 mB of internal RAM, or some small amount, so that ReadyBoost is used all the time. I don't know if your computer would be able to boot with any internal RAM.

Also, why do you want to do this?

 

[Brink]

Hello CR4CK2RWOLF, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You might boot into you BIOS (should see what key to press to enter BIOS at boot briefly) and double check the setting to make sure that you do not have a "USB device" option listed in the boot order.

Does this happen if you only have one of them connected?

Last time i checked.. i had the boot order set to HDD.. you could be right though. i tried to get my 4GB to boot DSL (D*mn small linux), i might have left the boot order that way, ill give it a try. Thanks for the relpy!

You're welcome.

 

[Brink]

Is there a way on 7 to make the readyboost your primary (possibly only) cache?

Hello 24x24,

Since you will have to have RAM installed in your computer for it to run, then no. If you have very little RAM, say 512MB, then it would use ReadyBoost a lot more. However, using ReadyBoost instead of having more RAM would decrease your computer's performance. RAM is always faster.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[macgyver2]

Brink since you seem to understand readyboost better then I, is there an amount of RAM say 4GB that after you reach that amount readyboost no longer helps?

 

[Bluemond]

The ReadyBoostMonitor is not working for me (Win7 Ultimate x64)... Gives me an Error:
Can't initialize Counters!
Check if ReadyBoost is active!
Vista OS required!
I also tried to start it in Vista-Combatibility...

 

[Brink]

Brink since you seem to understand readyboost better then I, is there an amount of RAM say 4GB that after you reach that amount readyboost no longer helps?

It really depends on how much you have running, but I'm sure that Windows will make some use out of ReadyBoost if used. I would suspect that your average user with 4GB of RAM installed will not see much if any gain from ReadyBoost though. Everyone's milage will vary of course.

 

[Brink]

The ReadyBoostMonitor is not working for me (Win7 Ultimate x64)... Gives me an Error:
Can't initialize Counters!
Check if ReadyBoost is active!
Vista OS required!
I also tried to start it in Vista-Combatibility...

Hello Bluemond,

Sorry, it was recommended to me for this, but after further testing it will just not run in Windows 7, only Vista.

 

[macgyver2]

Thanks, trying to find ways to keep the HDD from being used during online gaming with my laptop. I have 4GB's and a few 2GB SD cards and thought about using them to keep the disk thrash down which will also keep the HDD temp down.

 

[Brink]

Macgyver,

It may help reduce disc usage some, so it'll be worth a try to see if it may.

 

[nunjabusiness]

ReadyBoost will use 8GB in W7!

Hey folks. I didn't see anyone talking about it, but ya know W7 now supports an 8GB RB drive. I am using superfast 8GB sticks on my desktops and an 8GB SDHC in my notebook's multi-drive permanently.

The trick is, they have to be formatted in exFAT to be used. If you use the little popup "Speed up my computer" wizard, you can't do it immediately or on the fly.\

First you have to say no to the prompt, then go to disk management and format the sucker in exFAT.

exFAT is pretty new, so not a lot about it out there, but essentially it is like FAT on steroids, but not NTFS.

Anyway, once formatted, pop it out and back in and take the wizard and enjoy your newfound resources.!

(I have a 4GB desktop and a notebook with 8GB RB and an 8GB desktop with 8GB RB. You can definitely feel the difference.)

 

[Wrams]

I've used a Flash drive to make it so that it is dedicated to ReadyBoost but how do I use it and what exactly is its use for..?

I have 8 GB of RAM installed on my PC but am not 100% sure why I would want to use it. Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Brink]

Hello Wrams,

With 8 GB of RAM, you would probably not notice any difference in performance using ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost is basically a cheaper alternative than adding more RAM, and to help reduce reading and writing to the page file on the hard drive. It's slower than using RAM, but could be faster than the hard drive if you are low on RAM as well in some situations.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Wrams]

Thanks Shawn for your help. Atleast I don't have to use it now. I can undo the changes to the flash drive now and use it for other things...

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Wrams.